Sunshine Cleaning
by annthetropicalfish
Summary: Katniss needed cleaning products because crime scenes were hard to clean. She found more than she was looking for when she walked into a place called Mellark Cleaning Products.


The mattress was heavy and smelled like...she didn't want to think too much about the smell of shirt was tied behind her neck covering her nose and mouth but she could see lots of fluids and blood stains. A lot of blood stains.

"Slow down Katniss!" Prim said angrily but Katniss huffed.

"I'm not going fast, I'm walking backwards, I have the hard job," she said.

"You're in control, you're the one pulling it," Prim said, eyebrows raised and ears red. Katniss stifled a laugh. The Everdeen sisters had few things in common and one of them was very clear : their bodies betrayed their emotions and now Prim's ears were a warning sign.

"I'm not going fast," Katniss said when Prim huffed. The mattress was really heavy and her sister was not helping. She walked faster and the mattress started to fall.

"Prim, slow down," Katniss said again trying to hold the mattress and walk at the same but there was clearly a lack of coordination because Katniss stopped at the same time Prim walked faster. The mattress collided with Katniss' hip and fell on the floor with Prim on face fell against the blood stain and with a scream she jumped as quickly as possible from the mattress.

"Fuck! Katniss, fucking shit, what the actual fuck," Prim cursed running her hands through her lips and face, gagging and coughing.

"I told you you should put something to cover your mouth," Katniss said with a laugh. Prim growled at her and kicked the mattress.

"Whatever, you fucking do it yourself, I'm done," she said with a choked voice. Katniss laughed, she couldn't help it. It was rare to see Prim so angry and she just couldn't help it. Prim cursing was too good.

"Prim, I'm sorry, please help me, it'll wash out," she said but she was still grinning. Prim flipped her off over her shoulder and Katniss ran to her. "I'm sorry, please," Katniss said and put her arm around her sister's shoulder.

"Go to hell Kat," she said trying to walk faster.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please help me, I need the money," Katniss plead her face serious and Prim stopped with a sigh. She looked at her sister and then at bloody mattress.

"Just because I love my niece but you have to go pro on this thing, it's fucking disgusting to do this wearing your shirt as protection," she said waving to the mattress and Katniss smiled.

* * *

><p>It was like a Disneyland for cleaning products. It had a disinfectant smell but she enjoyed going there in a weird kind of way.<p>

They had been cleaning crime scenes for two months now and Peeta, the owner of "Mellark Cleaning Products" had been a guiding light for her at the beginning. Because she didn't know about cleaning crime scenes full of blood and grey matter. They were surprised to see each other so many years after high school. She remember he had joined the Army after school and that was it.

Her son Oliver was fascinated with Peeta.

"Where's the rest of you leg?" he asked when Peeta left the counter with a crutch under his arm to help her find masks and coveralls. There was nothing under his knee.

"Oliver! I'm so sorry Peeta," she said scowling at Oliver.

"But it's missing!" Oliver said frowning. Peeta laughed good naturally.

"It's okay." he said to Katniss with a small smile and then looked at Oliver "The rest of my leg is in a faraway country," he explained and Oliver nodded with a solemn expression.

"So you clean crime scenes," Peeta said with a nod to Katniss for her to follow him.

"Yeah, regular houses too but I'm getting used to cleaning blood," she said with a shrug.

"How did you end up in crime scenes?" he asked and Katniss swallowed heavily.

"Gale suggested it," she mumbled looking at Oliver. Peeta looked at him too and probably he noticed the resemblance but Katniss was thankful for Peeta's discretion, because she knew that Peeta knew Gale was married with Leevy Martins and they had a kid.

"Well, let me show you a kickass bleach and some mops, also you'll need gloves..." he walked with the clutch between the shelves and Katniss followed him.

Peeta was a key element for her new business. She trusted him and every week he helped her with several discounts. He loved chatting with Oliver and after Uncle Haymitch, Oliver didn't have a strong male figure in his life so Peeta was a nice addition.

Also,he always had a warm smile for her and she really liked that.

* * *

><p>Glimmer Richmond was having a baby. Katniss had avoided her high school classmates like the plague but when she was assigned to clean (dusting and vacuuming,not scrubbing blood from walls) the big mansion she couldn't have known Glimmer would be there, pregnant and married to a millionaire.<p>

"You must come, the whole gang is coming," she said and Katniss had to suppress the gag at the word gang. Her friends at school, Madge and Delly were an easy target at the time and Katniss still remembered how 'the gang' made fun of them, just because Madge was shy, Delly was a bit overweight and Katniss was poor with no dad.

"Sounds fun," Katniss said with a fake smile, cursing at Madge and Delly for moving away from town. Still, she didn't shy away from the challenge but when the day arrived, she didn't know who could stay with Ollie.

"Aunt Prim has a shift and Uncle Haymitch said Miss Trinket had invited him for a cup of tea," Ollie explained looking at her with his hair falling over his eyes.

She sighed and looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing her best dress, her hair looked really nice and she didn't know why but she wanted to show those women she was in control of her life. If only she could convince herself of that.

"I could stay with Peeta, he told me I could help him design his new leg because he's getting one and he wants one with a laser," Ollie said excitedly and Katniss smiled.

"I need to ask you a huge favor," Katniss asked holding Oliver's hand. She put her hair behind her ear when she felt Peeta's eyes on her.

"I know how to clean a scene but I have no idea about hiding a body," he said with a big smile. She laughed and asked him if Ollie could stay with him for a couple of hours.

"I know it's short notice," she said cringing but Peeta waved her off.

"Don't worry. We'll have fun, right kiddo?" Peeta asked with a big smile and Ollie jumped happily, his Batman cape flying behind his back.

"You're a lifesaver Peeta, thank you so much,"

"Have fun on your date," he said but Katniss shook her head, feeling the need to let him know she didn't have a date.

"It's a baby shower," she explained quickly. Peeta's smiled broadly and Katniss smiled back.

"You look beautiful, by the way," Peeta said blushing slightly. Katniss smiled at him blushing too. And she just couldn't stop smiling.

* * *

><p>She was holding a diaper with chocolate pudding that looked like poop because of course one of the joys of motherhood was feces.<p>

"So Katniss, tell us about you," Clove asked holding her own diaper. "Are you still with Gale?"

"Nope, we drifted apart," she explained shortly._I'm the one he calls when his wife doesn't want to have sex but after that, yes,just like old acquaintances_. She suppressed the bitter thought with some pudding.

"Oh! that's too bad, I always thought you would end up together," Clove said with a condescending smile but Cashmere (really Cashmere? even the dog could tell about the bad nose job) tsked Clove.

"Clove! We ran into them last week, they told us they're expecting again," she said with a smirk and Clove closed her eyes.

"Ugh, you're right." she said. Katniss felt like someone had kicked her stomach.

"What?" Katniss asked choking on the pudding but managed to keep her cool "I mean,that's so good, I always thought he would be a great dad," she said with a painful knot in her throat, knowing her voice sounded like she was out of was out of breath.

"Speaking of which," Enobaria asked with a voice that sounded like a pur of excitement over fresh gossip. "Who's your baby's daddy?"

Katniss panicked, feeling lightheaded.

"He died," she said feeling very tired. Every word felt like a betrayal to herself, to her son. She was so tired of being the other woman. _He's dead to me s_he thought taking a deep breath.

She had had an _anagnorisi_ moment holding a fake dipper full of chocolate pudding but she welcomed it anyway. She shouldn't have believe him when he'd told her again and again he would leave his wife and kids for her and Oliver.

Her former classmates sighed with sympathy but Katniss didn't pay attention when they talked about other people's life. Her phone saved her when she was about to give an excuse to leave.

"Pretend I'm giving you bad news so you can leave, if you're having a good time then I have to give Rue twenty bucks," Prim's voice was like a choir of angels. Katniss suppress a smile.

"Oh! yeah, okay, give me twenty and I'll be there," she said worriedly but her insides were dancing. "I have to go, my sister just ended her shift," Katniss explained, feeling like a new energy coursing through her.

When she was sure she was at least five blocks from Glimmer's house she stopped the car and pressed her forehead against the steering wheel.

She cried until her throat hurt.

"Mama are you okay?" Ollie asked when she saw her with puffy eyes and red nose. Katniss nodded and hugged her son tightly, feeling how his scent put her at ease.

"Why are you crying?" Ollie asked and Katniss shook her head, now looking at him.

"I missed you," she said sniffing and Ollie frowned.

"Mama, we weren't apart that long," he said framing her face with his small hands and Katniss laughed. She hugged him again and found Peeta's worried eyes on her.

"I know Pickle, but I missed you," she said and Ollie smiled. "How about we have pizza and then ice cream?"

"Yes!" Ollie screamed and Katniss looked at Peeta with a smile.

"Would you like to come?" she asked him.

"Yes!, Peeta say yes, and we can tell her about the awesome train we are going to build," Ollie said excitedly and Peeta shrugged.

"I would love to," he said with a smile and Katniss smiled back. "Are you okay?" he asked resting his hand on her forearm briefly when Ollie went to grab his jacket.

"Yeah, turns out I don't like baby showers so much," she said and Peeta nodded. Katniss cleared her throat and stepped closer. "Did he give any trouble?" she asked.

"Not at all, he's great kid Katniss," he said with so much honesty Katniss felt her tears again.

"Thank you," she whispered and Peeta smiled.

Ollie asked his slice of pizza with anchovies and pepperonis.

"You don't like anchovies," Katniss reminded him but he insisted. And that's why Katniss and Peeta had anchovies on the side of their plates while Ollie had his slide of pizza with only pepperonis. He and Peeta told her their plans to build a scale model of the Hogwarts Express. After the ice cream he fell asleep, his head resting on her lap while she ran her fingers softly through his dark hair.

"Sometimes I wish I could give him a real family," she whispered. Peeta put his glass of beer on the table and licked the foam from his upper lip.

"A real family? I had one of those from the outside. A dad, a mom and three even had the blond and blue eye thing but trust me, a mom that hurts her kids and a dad with no balls to stop that is not a family," he said tiredly.

"Gale didn't- he always said he would protect us and I believed him and by doing that I forgot about Ollie,his needs," she whispered. Peeta took her hand.

"Katniss, you know that's not 're willing to clean other people's blood for him. He thinks the world of you and he's such a good kid," Peeta said squeezing her hand.

"Thank you," she said squeezing back. A silence fell between them, their fingers still linked.

They talked until the waitress told them they were let go of his hand only to carry Ollie to the car.

"Hi Peeta, this is Katniss, there was a 'closed for two weeks' sign on the shop, I wanted to know if you're okay," she avoided the piece of bread Prim threw at her head "and also I wanted to let you know I had a really nice time the other night, umm- maybe if you, I mean, we could go to have a coffee sometime, if you want to obviously and if you like coffee, maybe you don't and here I am suggesting coffee, anyway, let me know, okay, bye!" She threw her phone on the couch as if it was a hot potato.

Ollie, Prim and Uncle Haymitch were looking at her with identical grins.

"Not even a word," she said with a warning finger and picked her phone again. Their laughter followed her to her room.

Her phone didn't ring because just a few hours later when the entire house slept, Peeta showed up.

"I'm having the pre-op tomorrow, I'm getting the leg, it was scheduled for next week but they told me yesterday they got the prosthesis earlier," he explained with a small smile.

"That's wonderful Peeta!," she said smiling too. He took her hands and ran his thumb through her knuckles. She shivered but she doubted it was from the soft breeze.

"So if the offer stills stands after the post-op and all that, I would love to have coffee with you or dinner, I can cook," he said and Katniss smiled with a nod.

"Or I could visit you at the hospital and during the post-op, I mean vending machines exists, right?" While she said this she stepped closer to him and now they were small steps away.

"Would you do that? It can be pretty gruesome," he said like it was preposterous that someone could visit him while he was recovering.

"Please, I've seen worse than a handsome man doing kinesiology," she said resting her other hand on his cheek.

"Handsome, hu?" he asked grinning and she laughed. He rested his hand over hers when she leaned into him and his other hand sneaked around her waist when her lips touched his.

"That was just to say good luck tomorrow," she said and Peeta smiled, resting his forehead against hers.

"I'm kind of scared," he whispered and Katniss hugged him tightly.

"I'll be waiting for you," she said and he sighed what it seemed like a sigh of relief.

* * *

><p>"The doctor told me they tried to put the laser but it was too dangerous," Peeta explained Ollie while the little kid looked at the prosthetic.<p>

"Wow, I'm sure it was a huge laser," he whispered and Peeta nodded, grinning at Katniss. She took his big and warm hand and kissed the back of it.

Things got pretty serious for them when Peeta left the hospital. She was there with him during PT and he still helped her with cleaning products.

She'd spent several nights at his place and at first he was worried that his stump would scare her away or disgust her. When he told her this she brought a toothbrush and left it next to his. She didn't even stop to think about what that toothbrush meant for their still incipient relationship so she just asked him if he was okay with an orange toothbrush to leave at her house.

He was okay with the orange toothbrush.

* * *

><p>This started with a prompt months ago from <strong>eatnightlockforbreakfast <strong>(favorite movie/everlark) so I used the movie Sunshine Cleaning with Amy Adams and Emily Blunt as an inspiration, I took several lines from the movie but I changed several things too and here's the result.

All mistakes are mine. I'm on Tumblr with this same user name, came say hi, I'm usually there displaying my excellent procrastinator skills and reblogging cool thing other people do.

Thanks for reading!

Mari.


End file.
